A former Lethbridge College vice-president, Rick Buis, has pleaded guilty to charges of accessing and possessing child pornography in a case described by the Crown as “the high end of the spectrum.” 

Both defence lawyer Balfour Der and Tess Jones of Special Prosecutions in Calgary were in Lethbridge provincial court Tuesday morning as 65-year-old Buis, appearing in person, pleaded guilty.

A charge involving distribution of child pornography has been withdrawn.

In a joint submission, the two lawyers said they agreed on eight months for a jail sentence and most of the conditions for a two-year probationary period.

There was disagreement on Buis’ future use of computers as part of the probationary terms. The Crown wants to limit the use to just work with the police being able to come into his home and check his computers without a warrant.

Der called the conditions “overly restrictive,” arguing that people use computers for everything and it wouldn’t be fair to restrict use for everyday matters.

Provincial court judge Sylvia Oishi postponed sentencing until Feb. 14.

As part of her evidence evaluation, Oishi is expected to watch a 32-minute video that contains what Jones termed “snippets” from the various videos seized off Buis’ computers, which were the property of Lethbridge College.

The videos were downloaded between July and December of 2008 and in September 2009.

Buis downloaded material as recently as March 27, 2010, two days after his wife found the porn on his computers at home and reported him to police.

Buis was in China at the time and returned home April 7, when he was arrested. He resigned from the college shortly after. He also resigned as president of the Lethbridge and District Exhibition.

Court heard that scenes on the videos included the sexual assault of an infant who might have been a year old and a four-year-old child forced to perform a sex act on a male adult.

In another video, an eight-year-old girl is forced to perform sex acts on a 60-year-old man. At one point, she grabs a handgun, points it to her head and pretends to shoot as she falls to the bed. 

Jones said the content on the videos “leaves nothing to the imagination,” suggesting Oishi “might want to fast forward it (the video) times eight.”

Der argued that while titles were indicative of porn, there was a chance that Buis wasn’t fully aware of what he was downloading at the time.

“You don’t know the content of things you download. The title suggests what’s there without a clear idea of what’s there, age of the child or acts.”

With the threat of eight months of jail time hanging over his client’s head, Der reminded the court room that Buis had previously done good.

“He had 65 years of a crime-free life. He worked at the Lethbridge College for 20 years in a senior position and at another college (Keyano) for 10 years. He submitted an early guilty plea and has no prior record.

“He has done good in the past, a lot of good,” Der said.

“He lost balance in his life. Unfortunately, it was supposed to be the time of his life. He and his wife had planned consulting work together.”

Der said jail would be harsh on Buis at his age.

“He is a first-time offender. It doesn’t matter if you’re immature, mature or older. Jail is not easy the first time around.”

Der spoke with media after the hearing, saying that Buis was remorseful for his actions and has shown it by the timely plea of guilty.